2023 NBA Draft: Center Situation After Wembanyama

Once Victor Wembanyama comes off the board, is there another center that will even be considered in the lottery?

In the 2022 NBA Draft, there were multiple centers that were considered in the lottery leading up to the night of the event. Most notably, Chet Holmgren was a lock to be taken in the top three, while Mark Williams, Jalen Duren and even Walker Kessler were in the lottery conversation in the days leading up to the draft. All four ended up going in the first 22 selections.

In the 2023 NBA Draft, the center position is one of the most interesting to dive into. At this point, it’s obvious Victor Wembanyama will be taken with the top overall pick, but it’s extremely unclear when the second center will be taken off the board.

While there’s a variety of bigs that absolutely have lottery upside outside of the Frenchman, none have really emerged as a lock in that range. There’s double-digit prospects around the world that will attempt to emerge as the clear second-best center during the pre-draft process, but nobody has accomplished that quite yet.

Who will end up being the second center taken in the 2023 NBA Draft?

• Kyle Filipowski (Duke)
• Kel’el Ware (Oregon)
• Dereck Lively II (Duke)
• Tristan Vukcevic (International)
• DaRon Holmes II (Dayton)
• Adem Bona (UCLA)
• James Nnaji (International)

The reality is that as of today, it wouldn’t be surprising for the second center taken in this summer’s draft to be outside of the lottery.

Vukcevic is arguably the best international big outside of Wembanyama, but he’s just now showing that he should even be considered as a first rounder.

Lively II was the top overall recruit in his high school class, while Ware and Filipowski were both top ten. It’s not that these three have been bad this season, but they certainly haven’t been consistently dominant players on their respective teams. Bona was also a top 20 player in that class, but has been more of a role player at the college level thus far.

Holmes has shown some flashes of greatness in his two seasons at Dayton, but doesn’t appear to be worth a lottery pick. Same goes for Nnaji, who has actually shown quite a bit of growth overseas, but doesn’t seem to be a franchise-altering talent.

In short, there’s a real opportunity for someone in this upcoming draft class to take the spot as the clear second-best center. Whoever is able to do that could be at a huge advantage for whatever team needs frontcourt depth in the first round.

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